All About Health

Every January for more than a decade, financial adviser Bill Monte calls 20 Rochester-area nursing homes and asks for the daily and annual rate for a private room.

People have some interesting hobbies.

Actually Monte, sole proprietor of LCTi Consultants in Brighton, helps his clients understand long term care planning. He shares his list with his network of attorneys, independent financial advisers and accountants so they, too, know what their clients may be facing.

“Everyone perceives that nursing home care is much, much less than it is,” Monte said.

The teller greeted an elderly man with “How are you? Haven’t seen you in a while.”

To which he replied that about a week ago, he spent five days in Rochester General Hospital.

HIPAA doesn’t cover casual conversations, so he was free with some details. He talked about how he has to wear support hose, but they itch and he doesn’t know what to do. He said that he’d been told to call the doctor in seven days, and then again in 10 days. He said to the teller, “Is that seven days after surgery or after leaving the hospital.” Listening to him, I think we both were wondering when calendar started on the 10 days — after the first seven or after the whole episode began.

Asthma seems to be a particular plague for adults and the poor in this region, according to a report from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.

Adults ages 18-64 in the Finger Lakes region had the highest prevalence (13.4 percent) and the Southern Tier region had the lowest (10.2 percent) of all regions in the Excellus report. The statewide rate for the age group is 9.7 percent

Overall, one in 9 upstaters younger than 65 has asthma, which the report said is higher than the New York state average.

The Democrats have not done well in PR campaigns about health care reform.

A couple of years ago, in a conversation with the Democrat and Chronicle editorial board as President Barack Obama was rolling out his plan, Rep. Louise Slaughter admitted as much.

What to do, what to do?

Even though the famous Harry and Louise of 1990s commercials against Clinton health reform were last seen supporting the this go-round, the PR battle still seems to be going to the opponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Wired magazine reports on the phenomenon of phantom vibration syndrome — the sensation that your phone is buzzing when no one’s there.

According to the magazine, a study at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., found that 68 percent of the staff suffered from phantom vibration syndrome, suggesting that millions of cellphone users have tactile hallucinations similar to meth addicts who feel like bugs are crawling under their skin.

One theory is that the sensation is caused by stress. A sensation associated with an incoming call or text, like a muscle twitch or a adjusting the crease in your pants, may make an anxious brain create a false signal.

It can lead to obesity, which is a risk factor for high cholesterol and diabetes, which in turn can lead to heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.

There are medications that while they don’t cure gluttony, can mitigate its effects and prevent discomfort at the least and serious health complications at the most.

But many people find gluttony morally objectionable. To them, it shows a weakness of character, not to mention it’s one of the seven deadly sins. They may wonder why an employer would have to cover any treatments for it.

The price of health care services is gaining attention as New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman recently talked about making sense of out-of-network charges.

Notice I’m not talking about the cost of health care services – the amount the provider spends to provide the service. I’m talking about how much a provider bills for that service (the charge) and the amount we pay for that service — the price.

Both seem to be determined by the man behind the curtain in a place called Oz.

Every month is something, and June is men’s health month. Don’t ask me who designated it; probably a medical Hallmark moment because it’s the same month as Father’s Day.

To my knowledge, May isn’t women’s health month, even though it’s when Mother’s Day falls. If there has to be a women’s health month, it’s probably October because of its association with breast cancer.

Which brings me to my point. Women are more than boobs, and men are more than a penis.

Yet reading a pitch for articles about coverage of the made-for-media men’s health month, that’s all you’d think they are. The ideas were for stories about prostate problems and urological issues, including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

This probably isn’t the image of Gatorade that its makers and athletes such as Abby Wambach, Ryan Lochte, Eli Manning, Sidney Crosby and Michael Jordan had in mind when they starred in the commercials: sports drink in colonoscopy prep.

Gives new meaning to the slogan, “Is it in you?”

Some gastroenterologists are telling patients that they can mix powered laxatives into a sports drink or flavored water to make preparation for the bowel exam more palatable.

About this blog

Patti Singer

Health Reporter

Being healthy means that you’ll be in good shape if you get sick. That may sound odd, but think about it. We may not be able to prevent every illness, but if we can delay it, minimize it and recover quickly, we can get back to our lives. That’s the beauty of a healthy lifestyle – what I call wellness insurance.

I’m fascinated by how we define health and what we do to achieve and keep that physical, emotional and spiritual sense.

I used to be a sports writer. I joined the Democrat and Chronicle in 1985 to write about the Rochester Red Wings and wouldn’t trade that experience for an infinite number of first-round draft choices. I moved from sports to features in 1991, and wrote about personal health, travel and general topics. I joined the metro staff in July 2009 to focus on health.

I am certified as a personal trainer and I earned a master’s degree in education from The College at Brockport, where I teach an undergrad course in contemporary health issues and a grad course in health communication.